O5 f150 5.4 3v 303k
Old lady calls and says truck wont shift so i jumps in me truck and down the road. Get to her and she says it will do 25 and then just revs like its in N. I drive it and no Cel to speak of no wrench icon and it will not hit 3rd gear. Instantly i think its in limp mode. But no cel no wrench. I take off for home which is 15 mile which will take a few at 25mph. Get goin down the road an hit the OD off and it lets me rap out 2nd gear to the point i can get her goin 54mph at 3300 rpm and im home in no time. Ive read that if you have broken an od band it wont engine brake. It engine brakes just fine. So i pull her in the barn and clean maf remove throttle body. Clean. Take her down the road same problem. Got a wrench light and check engine whoops forgot to plug in the maf. Clear codes test drive. Same no 3rd gear. Let her sit overnight to see if it would do it cold. Same no 3rd.
Then i put her in 4 low. Same thing wont hit 3rd in four low.
I want to lean towards a shift solenoid at this point but hate to drop the pan if im running off in the wrong direction. A days worth of internet searches tells me shift solenoid but NO darn CEL.a bad shift solenoid should show a cel. Help

 

No, transmission issues do NOT trip a CEL. The OD light may start blinking, that's like a CEL for the transmission.

 

No Od light either. Good to know that i dont need to be looming for a cel. Plan to drop pan tonight and swap shift solenoid.

 

Swapped shift solenoid. No dice still no 3rd. Dark fluid when drained but looked fairly red on the stick. No real shrapnel to speak of.

 

If it were a solenoid, you would get a transmission code.